February 28, 2008

Remember the tech bust in 2001? How about stagflation back in the
1970's? The WaPo laments that, "Unfortunately, the Fed shows signs of
overreacting to these pressures and repeating the great blunder of the
1970s." See The Specter of Stagflation. There's more dismal news in BusinessWeek and the AP.

I
believe it's time to hunker down because we're fixin' to go on a wild
ride. And I'm certain that what lies ahead will make the bust of aught 1 look like an old ABC After School Special.

While
the VC money flowed like wine back during the dot com boom, [...] I
noticed that the pace of hiring and firing accelerated as the dot coms
flailed about in desperate attempts to raise revenue. While the repo
man banged on the door to collect the ping pong tables and the Herman
Miller Aeron chairs, many a PR professional had Security stand guard
over them as they packed their belongings. Then, to paraphrase “Howl”
by Allen Ginsberg, I saw the best minds of public relations
destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves
through the sushi streets of San Francisco at dawn looking for a job. (See Howl.com for a better version.)

Back in 2001, I saw the streets of San Francisco turn into a George Romero
film as thousands of howling PR people got pink slipped. I too, was one
of the unemployed, the laid-off undead. First, Security came for the PR
people. Then the advertising people. Then finally, the remainder of the
marketing department.

Here's a prediction: Forget stagflation,
now we're in for flackflation. And it's going to smack into the PR
industry like a ten ton meteor.

Woe be on to you, those that aren't prepared for what is coming next. Recession, inflation and a dying mainstream media
are the Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse. If $100 a barrel oil prices
is the fourth guy on horseback, then we will all be bicycling to client
meetings. I predict that in less than five years public relations -- as
it's practiced now -- will cease to exist. Instead, PR will morph into
almost exclusively a social media pure play.

February 24, 2008

Hey, PR people, where were you when the mainstream media died?
Apparently it happened back in 2004 and few noticed -- except for those
of us in the social media space who have been singing "bye-bye Miss
American pie" for quite a while now.

Many social media folks
feel that blogs became a real threat to mainstream media during the
2004
presidential race. But now there’s a great new study that
corroborates this called Every Blog Has Its Day.
This study by three different universities analyzes the data collected
during the 2004 blogging surge and guess what? If the findings are
correct, then blogs now have more credibility than all other forms of
media.

To quote from the study:

"The perceived credibility of blogs is
significantly higher than the perceived credibility of any other
traditional and online media."

That's
right, blogs have more credibility than traditional newspapers and
online newspapers. Moreover, blogs are now more credible than
traditional television news, online television, traditional cable TV
news and online cable television news.

The "good old boys
drinkin' whiskey and rye" in MSM board rooms haven't yet realized the
particular day that they died. But from the lack of intrepid reporting
in the lead-up to the Iraq War, to ever-increasing layoffs in the news industry, to this nasty lack of journalistic standards,
it's pretty apparent that is not life we're witnessing---just the
spasms of rigor mortis. Is it any wonder that corporate advertisers are
pulling advertising life support from traditional media and going
online? (Growth is nine times traditional ad spending according to this.)

Need more convincing?

Did you catch Marc Andreessen's launch of the New York Times Death Watch? He told Fortune
that if he were running the Times he would "Kill the print product
immediately and deliver the base line of news online only. 'Take acute
pain now in order to avoid years of chronic pain,' he says. "Basic rule
of thumb: Be on offense, not on defense." The offense he recommends is
immediately bolting social media features onto the Times' online site.

"It's cheap. Social applications
can be nearly free (think blogs, Ning.com, facebook pages) and even
more sophisticated communities are typically $30K to $200K -- a lot
cheaper than a significant sized ad [and PR] campaign."

If you'd
be interested in holding on to your clients during the down turn, we
can create these communities like branded Facebook applications for you
for whole lot less than $30K.

Bernoff also wrote a report called "Strategies For Interactive Marketing In A Recession" which you can download for free here.

His executive summary states:

"Many economists now believe we are in, or approaching, an economic
recession. In the last recession, online spending cratered along with
the rest of the advertising industry. But since interactive marketing
programs are now fueled by measurable results, not dot-com madness, we
believe that they can thrive in a recession. Social applications in
particular, such as communities and social networking sites, are
cost-effective and have a measurable impact on prospects' decisions in
the consideration stage, which will be important to companies under
recessionary pressures. Interactive marketers should stop toe-dipping
and invest only in programs that can deliver on measurable metrics."

Is
your agency toe-dipping now in social media while the economists are
gathering enough data to officially announce that we are indeed in a
recession?

Here's more. ADWEEK reported in Social Media to Weather Recession
that marketers who are moving "into areas like word of mouth, blogging
and social networking will withstand tightened budgets. In contrast,
marketers are likely to decrease spending in traditional media and even
online vehicles geared to building brand awareness. [...] Perhaps more
important, Forrester sees more sophisticated marketers shifting their
focus from building awareness to motivating consideration, a
middle-of-the-funnel activity social media applications like discussion
boards are ideally suited for."

Also check out my post from last March, PR is back, like Dawn of the Dead Part 2,
where I wrote about my experiences as an account director in San
Francisco during the tech boom and subsequent bust. Back in 2001, like
the other 40,000 PR pros in the Bay Area, I was laid off and all of us
were applying for the only job available at Netflicks. Since then, I've
gone to great lengths to recession proof my business and I can do the
same for your firm.

Back in March, when Rich Edleman was tooting
the horn that PR was back, I wrote that "when the wheels come off the
economy–and the wheels always come off–mere activity won’t sustain an
account if that activity doesn’t have a direct and clear impact upon
sales. Otherwise, when things go bad, the PR peeps are the first one
escorted off the property [by Security]....Is it any wonder that the
streets of San Francisco turned into a George
Romero film as thousands of howling PR people got pink slipped?"

I've
been through a recession before and I saw what it did to our industry.
But now there's a new service that can keep us all working.

February 13, 2008

"Many economists now believe we are in, or approaching, an economic
recession. In the last recession, online spending cratered along with
the rest of the advertising industry. But since interactive marketing
programs are now fueled by measurable results, not dot-com madness, we believe that they can thrive in a recession. Social applications in
particular, such as communities and social networking sites, are
cost-effective and have a measurable impact on prospects' decisions in
the consideration stage, which will be important to companies under
recessionary pressures. Interactive marketers should stop toe-dipping
and invest only in programs that can deliver on measurable metrics."

"Budgets are tight in light of the economic conditions as you surmise,
but [the budget for social applications] has not been impacted. We are
still keen to move forward with our trial and have support….at this
point anyway. Interactive in general has been more protected than other comms areas and saw an increase."

"According to the Forrester Research report, marketer moves into areas
like word of mouth, blogging and social networking will withstand
tightened budgets. In contrast, marketers are likely to decrease
spending in traditional media and even online vehicles geared to
building brand awareness. Those findings stand in contrast to the
previous economic downturn, when spending on Internet advertising
cratered as marketers turned to tried-and-true media."

"It always fascinates me to see how stories move through the blogosphere and into mainstream media. It is always interesting to watch what I sometimes term the "trajectory of ideas" within the mediasphere and the ripples of influence."

"Back in September of last year, I talked about some general questions people should ask before setting up a wiki. The very first question I asked was: 'is a wiki the best technology for what I am seeking to accomplish?." That may not always be an easy question to answer."

November 19, 2007

AUSTIN, TX--The public relations firms with the largest revenue know
something you don't: They've made social media programs an important
part of their service offerings.

Take a look at the public relations agencies below that do not
currently offer their clients social media programs. Then check out O'Dwyer's site
to see how these U.S.-based independent firms rank according to 2006
revenue. Interestingly, six of the top ten PR firms do consider social
media important enough to make these programs part of their regular
service offerings.

Social media like blogs, podcasts, forums, wikis and myspace/facebook
applications should be a part of every PR agency's tool set. In fact, a
recent white
paper from Council of PR Firms says that in next five years, "social media must become part of the way
public relations practitioners do business or they will become
obsolete." (From "Relating to the Public: The Evolving Role of Public
Relations in the Age of Social Media," available as a PDF here.)

Remember fax blasting press releases? Not having social media programs
as an integral program in 2007 is akin to not owning a fax machine,
circa 1990.

Would you like to become one of the Have's? Send me an email or call 512-963-4649.

Our
Digital PR Service is a turnkey solution that gives traditional public
relations firms the ability to open an online channel of communication
with their client's targeted
universe of customers, influencers and prospects. With our help, you
can effectively communicate messaging without journalists standing
between the message and consumers.

Anchored by a business blog, our campaigns use a variety of Web 2.0 and
social media tools to create extraordinarily effective marketing
strategies. Also, out team will take responsibility for as much, or as
little
of the online content development and infrastructure as you
require.

For more information about Phenix Public Relations' Digital PR Service, click here.

November 02, 2007

Meet
Linda, a PR account director for several large companies. One day, one
of her clients called her in for a meeting and said his company wanted
to delve into social media. "You know," said the client, "we want some
of that Web 2.0 stuff. How fast can you launch a campaign?"

Poor
Linda had never published her own blog and couldn't even tell the
difference between a wiki and forum. But she had read a recent white
paper from the Council of PR Firms that said in the next five years, "social media must become part of the way
public relations practitioners do business or they will become
obsolete." (From "Relating to the Public: The Evolving Role of Public
Relations in the Age of Social Media," available as a PDF here.) So fearing obsolescence, Linda and her team jumped in to this brave new world. Their intent was to "join the conversation" but instead it quickly turned into a street brawl.

"At best, they wasted a lot of money on ill-conceived campaigns
involving blogs, video-sharing sites like YouTube, social networks like
MySpace and other new media where users (horrors!) can actually create
content.

"At worst, their futile attempts at old-style message control
(masquerading as new media) did permanent damage to their brands in the
very markets that will determine their future fortunes."

If your client expects you to have a program in place immediately —
before you have time to digest all this course work — well, it might be
time to panic if you haven’t been a long-time student of social media
in your spare time. And if you’re just beginning to dip your toes into
all this Web 2.0 goodness, would you be comfortable putting your
client’s reputation on the line while you learn on the job?

My advice: As tempting as new channels like blogs and
massively-multiplayer environments may be for marketing, you should
make sure you understand the needs, opinions and language of the
audience before throwing your messages at them. If you don’t know this
new world as well as your Rolodex of reporters, it’s best to hire a
consultant.

Our
Digital PR Service is a turnkey solution that gives traditional public
relations firms the ability to open an online channel of communication
with their client's targeted
universe of customers, influencers and prospects. With our help, you
can effectively communicate messaging without journalists standing
between the message and consumers.

Anchored by a business blog, our campaigns use a variety of Web 2.0 and
social media tools to create extraordinarily effective marketing strategies. Also, out team will take responsibility for as much, or as little
of the online content development and infrastructure as you
require.

October 31, 2007

AUSTIN, TX--Business owners, if you need to wait till acceptance rates hit a certain plateau
before adopting your own social media strategy, then I promise you
you're efforts will be doomed. Fact is, social media is growing so fast
and morphing so rapidly, that if you're company takes a "wait till next
year" approach, you'll be left behind and never be able to catch up.

Take for example a new survey by Jupiter released this last July that warns retailers away from social media campaigns. eCommerce Times quotes Jupiter's report

"The majority of online shoppers who have used social
and community sites while
researching and purchasing do not believe
that such sites affected their purchase decisions, and few online
shoppers said they spend incrementally more due to their use of social
and community sites."

Also quoted is Jupiter's the lead analyst for the report, Patty Freeman Evans, as saying

"Retailer[s] should take a pause from all the hype
they've heard about social networking and social media because those
sites are not something that's going to immediately drive incremental
sales for them."

If you take Jupiter as Gospel and forgo a social media campaign,
what will happen to your business if just say consumers begin to flock
to social media and your largest competitor has a year's jump on you
with their wikis, forums, blogs and user-generated content (UGC)?

IT professionals cite social media as the most trustworthy online source of information when making purchasing decisions

Executive-level decision-makers spend nearly 3.5 hours per week
consuming or participating in social media - the highest usage profile
of any IT audience

Nearly two-thirds of IT professionals surveyed say social media
content and user-generated tools have made for a more informed
purchasing decision; nearly three-quarters say such content and tools
have made their lives more efficient.

IT audiences now spend as much or more time consuming or
participating in social media as they do consuming editorial media or
vendor content.

What do the purchasing habits of IT geeks mean to you if say you're a maker of premium dog food?
(Attention Jim Kelly!) Consider that these geeks owned PCs while you
were still banging out forms in triplicate on an electric typewriter.
They were online as you bought your first Commodore 64. And now that
you're ordering just about everything on Amazon while listening to your
iPod, take a moment to consider who was there first. The geeks shall
inherit the earth not simply through usurping the popular kids. The
ultimate Revenge of the Nerds is that you and your customers grow a little more geekier every day.

Are you going to sit on your hands while your competitors adopt the Tao of the Geek and steal away your market share?

Here's some more findings about UGC that Jordan McCollum culled from a new survey from PR Week and Manning, Selvage & Lee:

43.4% of marketers will use UGC in the next year

42.3% have definitely allocated some portion of their budget to UGC

92.5% would consider turning to an Internet/new media specialist
for a “new media campaign,” and 47.7% would turn to them first (that’s
more than 2.5 times greater than the next choice, a PR agency).

46.6% think Internet/new media agencies do a very good or
excellent job measuring their effectiveness (second only to direct
marketing agencies).

Did you catch this figure -- 43.4% of marketers will use UGC in the next year? What percentage of these marketers are retailers, the survey didn't say. My advice is not to wait till next year to find out.

I'd also advise you to stop listening to surveys and start ramping up your social media campaign now.

October 25, 2007

According to a new white paper from the Council of PR Firms,
in the next five years, "social media must become part of the way
public relations practitioners do business or they will become
obsolete." From "Relating to the Public: The Evolving Role of Public
Relations in the Age of Social Media," available as a PDF here.

Amen! In fact, I've been preaching this sermon for a while now, since I walked away from traditional PR over three years ago.

For more on the impending demise of the public relations industry, see my previous posts:

October 24, 2007

AUSTIN, TX--When Austinites are searching Google for the products you sell, where does your business show up?

Whether you're a butcher, a baker or a candlestick maker, every
business owner knows that the survival of your company depends on your
ability to compete with other butchers, bakers and candlestick makers.
But then things got a lot more complicated with the Internet -- now 58%
of shoppers, according to Accenture, are going online first to do their
research before stepping foot in a store.

Over the last several years, Phenix Public Relations has cracked the
Google algorithm with its corporate clients and subsequently pushed
their blogs up in the Google rankings to the number two position next
to large enterprises like IBM. Lately, we've been tweaking our
campaigns so they could be affordable to small business owners. And now
we've launched our new Digitial PR Service for Small to Medium-Sized
Businesses. (For more information about this program, click here.)

Our Digital PR Service enables clients to open an online channel of
communication with their targeted universe of customers, influencers
and prospects. With our help, you can compete not just locally but also
against international companies that have spent millions of dollars to
reach that coveted number one position on Google.

Anchored by a business blog, our campaigns use a variety of Web 2.0 and
social media tools to create an extraordinarily effective marketing
tool. Also, out team will take responsibility for as much, or as little
of the online content development and infrastructure as the client
requires. Why does your business need a blog?

Considering that 62% of searchers click on a 1st page link and only 10%
goes beyond the 3rd page, let's go back to my original question: When
a consumer types "best (fill in the blank) Austin" into Google do you show up on the front page?

If you'd like to get more out of your marketing efforts and do it with
a much smaller spend than traditional advertising or PR, let's set up a
meeting.